legendsoftheavatarfandomcom-20200213-history
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Avatar: The Last Airbender, is an Emmy award-winning American animated television series that aired for three seasons on Nickelodeon. The series was created and produced by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. Avatar is set in an Asian-influenced world of martial arts and elemental manipulation. The show drew on elements from Asian, and Western cultures, making it a mixture of Japanese anime and Western domestic cartoons. The series follows the adventures of Aang and his friends, who must save the world by defeating Fire Lord Ozai and ending the Hundred Year War with the Fire Nation. The show first aired on February 21, 2005, and the series concluded on July 19, 2008. The show is now available for purchase on DVD, the iTunes Store, the Xbox Live Marketplace, the PlayStation Network, and Amazon, and for streaming via both Amazon Prime Video and the Nickelodeon website. The seasons are also occasionally aired on Nickelodeon's spinoff network, Nicktoons. Production Development Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko began work on the series at Nickelodeon Animation Studios in California. The program was created in the spring of 2001 when he took an old sketch of a balding, middle-aged man and re-imagined the character as a child. Konietzko drew the character herding bison in the sky and showed the sketch to Mike DiMartino. At the time, DiMartino was studying a documentary about explorers trapped in the South Pole. Konietzko stated, "we thought, 'There's an air guy along with these water people trapped in a snowy wasteland ... and maybe some fire people are pressing down on them ..." The co-creators then pitched the idea to Nickelodeon VP and executive producer Eric Coleman which was a success. The show was first revealed to the public at San Diego Comic-Con International 2004 and the first to episodes aired on February 21, 2005. A twenty-episode season ran from March 17, 2006, through December 1 and a third and final season, beginning September 21, 2007, featured twenty-one episodes The final four episodes were released as a two-hour movie. Premise Avatar: The Last Airbender takes place in a fantasy world that is home to humans, incredible animals, and spirits. Human civilization is divided into the Four Nations: the Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom, the Air Nomads, and the Fire Nation and each nation has its natural element, on which it bases its society, and within each nation exist people known as benders who have the natural power and ability to control and manipulate the element of their nation. The Avatar is one person who is capable of controlling and manipulating all four elements. When an Avatar dies, they reincarnate into the next nation in the Avatar Cycle. The Avatar Cycle corresponds to the seasons: autumn for the Air Nomads, winter for the Water Tribe, spring for the Earth Kingdom, and summer for the Fire Nation. Legend holds the Avatar must master each bending art in order, starting with his or her native element, but this can change if necessary. Cultural Influences Characters Synopsis Response Other Media Citations